The Eclipse of the Millennium -- August 11, 1999

By Ken Kalb

From ancient times, eclipses have been viewed as markers of powerful changes ahead. Because the luminaries block each other and distort or darken the light, eclipses take on an ominous flavor. Though there are usually four eclipses every year -- two solar and two lunar -- major eclipses are viewed as clear demarcations between a former cycle and a dawning new one. They are boosts of energy escalating consciousness over an evolutionary bridge.

Two weeks after the July 28 total lunar eclipse, on Wednesday, August 11, 1999, there will be a Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) of truly millennial proportions. It is fundamental for all of us to understand the significance of this unprecedented celestial event. During the period of darkness covering the path of the eclipse, you are invited to join millions of kindred spirits in your divine radiance to ignite the divinity of consciousness of this new period of awakening.

With surgical precision, the planets of the eclipse form a powerful Grand Cross formation in all four 'gates of power,' or middle of the fixed signs of the zodiac: Taurus, Leo, Aquarius, and Scorpio (representing the four Sacred Beasts of the Apocalypse -- the Bull, Lion, Man, and Serpent/Eagle, of Ezekiel's chariot, of the Sphinx, and of the final card of the Tarot, the World). This directly links the energy of the conjoined Leo new Moon and Sun in opposition to Uranus in Aquarius, with each body squaring Mars (in Scorpio) and Jupiter (in Taurus). Yet another "T-Square" or "Tau" is also formed by Neptune in Aquarius opposing Mercury in Leo, with both squaring Jupiter in Taurus. Both the Grand Cross and T-Square are dynamic configurations of challenge, intensity, and self-transcendance, and the fixed signs are powerful and archetypal. Are you ready for the most powerful shift in human history? As God turns out the lights for two minutes and twenty two seconds, the Mother of all eclipses opens the charged portal of The Window, the gateway into the new Aquarian dispensation.

In Esoteric Astrology, Alice Bailey once described the fixed cross as a transition in consciousness and an initiation of the soul by the fires of God. Imagine yourself facing off the Bull, taunting the Lion, challenging the Serpent, and walking the initiatory path of the Soul. The prophetic days of purification are now upon us.

The 19th century magus Eliphas Levi once said, "the grand symbols of the past are theprophecies of the future." Just as the Earth is being crossed by the planets in space, we find ourselves at a critical crossroads -- a simultaneous christing and crucifixion, as we cross this threshold into the 21st century and Aquarian age.

The eclipse first shadows land in Southwestern England at Cornwall, the mystical land of Arthur, Merlin, the Holy Grail, and recently the mysterious crop circles. On May 3rd (precisely one year before the Grand Planetary Alignment of 2000), a magnificent ecliptoid representation appeared in the fields in Andover near Hampshire, England! The total eclipse will be visible within a narrow corridor traversing the Eastern Hemisphere, with the Moon's umbral shadow beginning in the Atlantic, crossing central Europe, the Middle East, and India where it ends at sunset in the Bay of Bengal in India. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's prenumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America, all of Europe, northern Africa, and the western half of Asia. This eclipse occurs at 11:08 am GMT, in broad daylight, and though not visible to most Earthlings, all of us will feel it on the inner plane.

The coincidence of the swath of the eclipse with the flight path of the NATO jets over the Balkans is most intriguing. And how fascinating that this fixed polarity eclipse would focus on the Leo/Aquarius axis, just as the astrological age shifts into Aquarius. For 13000 years ago, half way back around the 'Great Year' or galactic precessional cycle, the Earth entered the opposing Age of Leo -- often considered the time of the Great Flood -- and quite possibly the last geopolar shift and secondary ice age. Many archaeo-astronomers now date the Great Pyramid on the Giza Plateau to this time, and feel the Sphinx (a composite of the 4 sacred beasts) was encoding the birth of this age in stone in grand Leonine symbology.

Now proliferating the thought waves is a host of prophecy from the past which seems to focus on these mysterious times. In one of his most specific, yet least understood prophecies (Century X, Quatrain 72), Nostradamus states: "In the year 1999 and 7 months; From the sky will come a great King of Terror; He will resurrect the great King of Angolmois; Before which Mars rules happily....this will be preceded by the eclipse of the Sun, more obscure and tenebrous than has ever been since the creation of the world, except the eclipse after the death and passion of Jesus Christ." With the forward correction from the Julian calendar of Nostradamus' day to the current Gregorian calendar, this seems to correspond with this eclipse of August 11, 1999. On the dark side, The "King of Terror" has been speculated to be a comet colliding with Earth, an alien invasion, a nuclear war, or the return of the plutonium filled Cassini spacecraft. On the bright side, it has also been interpreted as the awakening of the spirit of Jesus within the masses, enlightenment, or revelations from the opening of the Hall of Records under the Sphinx -- who in Arab tradition is called "the Father of Terror." In any event, soon we will know if what the mysterious mystic mused had any meaning.

By gathering with radiance and passion in collective attunement, we are participating in a positive act of planetary alchemy which forms the hologram of love and activates the core from which the entire consciousness of humanity is ignited. Many groups such as LightShift 2000 (http://www.lightshift.com), Rising Earth (http://www.FreenetPages.co.uk/hp/risingearth/world_earth_healing_day.html), Lotus Centre (www.lotushealth.co.nz), and many others are organizing events around the eclipse. We invite all to join hands and hearts during this powerful flashpoint. Please see the vital information section of LightShift 2000 website to get further information and time zone corrections.

January 1, 1999 -- 111999 -- Alpha and Omega

Consider how the first day of this last year of the century, January 1, 1999, exhibited a unique configuration of numbers with powerful metaphysical significance. Writing out the numbers, we get 111999, or two trinitys of the first and last number. The number one represents unity, and the beginning or alpha portion of a cycle, while the number nine represents the omega, end, or eternal phase. So implicit in January 1, 1999 is both alpha and omega, marking the beginning of the end of a two thousand year calendric cycle -- signaling both a completion and an initiation.

Deuces Are Wild!!

Here, the plot really thickens as we examine the space-time segment of this eclipse. The Total Solar Eclipse of 8/11/1999 aligns precisely 222 days after 1/1/1999. Now the peak of TSE intersects the Earth at 45 degrees North latitude and 22'30" East longitude near Bucharest, Romania. A division of the Northern hemisphere by 2 gives 45 degrees, and the Eastern hemisphere by 2 -- three times (2,2,2) gives 22 1/2 degrees, the very heart of the eclipse! Now, If this weren't coincidence enough, Dr. Frank Espenak, director of the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Laboratory points out that an atomic timing of the eclipse calculates it will last precisely...2 minutes 22 and 1/2 seconds! This is all just too much: The odds of these synchronisms are so rare they give me a gogol of goosebumps. And TSE comes 144 (12X12) days before the Year Two Thousand!

So what does this obvious charge around the number 2 mean? Perhaps it has to do with the need to balance the 2 elements of being: Masculine and feminine, yin and yang, positive and negative into wholeness. In essence I think it boils down to the interconnectedness of you and I, together: A signal of the basic Aquarian principle of "we" instead of "me." It brings up the image of Noah and his arc in the face of the flood, loading up two by two. The formula for surivial and success in the 21st century is in synergistic win/win partnerships.

So let us join hearts and spirits in radiance and collective attunement during this sacred moment of entry into "The Window into the Third Millennium." For together, we will turn on the inner Light of the World.

This is a modified excerpt of Ken Kalb's remarkable book, LightShift 2000: Let's Turn on theLight of the World, available by calling 1-800-969-4401, at http://www.lightshift.com, metaphysical bookstores, amazon.com, and by special order from Borders or Barnes and Noble. LightShift 2000 has the complete story of this cycle and is a sourcebook and an initiative for personal and global transformation in the new millennium.